The impermanence of a rose

Everything dies. To remind myself of this I bought myself a small bunch of roses today. 

'Impermanence is a principle of harmony. When we don’t struggle against it, we are in harmony with reality.' Pema Chodron

I was listening to a podcast by Dr Rick Hanson and Forrest Hanson this morning (https://www.rickhanson.net/being-well-podcast/). During the session they were talking about impermanence, they referred to the Buddhist cornerstone of impermanence and how this wisdom can allow us to live our one big beautiful life more richly. They mentioned the metaphor of a rose; the rose is beautiful but the beauty doesn't last, the flower wilts, the petals fall and eventually it rots. We can bemoan the death of the flower or take it even further and avoid the inevitable sense of loss by avoiding roses altogether. In doing so, though, we lose something. We lose the experience of watching the petals unfurling, opening up to reveal the flower's hidden depths, witnessing the beauty of the rose in it prime. 

We can live it safe and small to avoid feeling pain from loss as we, and everyone and everything around us, grows and changes. The pain will still come eventually, it always does. If we invest our energy into resistance we increase our suffering and deepen our despair but until the pain arrives it gives us some sense of control and protection. This is an illusion but it's a comfortable one. 

The alternative is to accept that tough times will come, we will lose and fail, we will falter on the path. But we will also have moments of deliciousness. This acceptance can give us the freedom to live our one big beautiful life more fully; enabling us to take the risks, to follow dreams, to explore opportunities. It can also offer us grace when things go wrong, when we are faced with loss, failure and despair. 

At the moment I am in a state of flux, between places and that feels uncomfortable. So today I bought myself these roses to remind me that this is life; it can be hopeful, and beautiful, but nothing lasts forever. What am I doing with this one big beautiful life I have been given? There is nothing promised in this world apart from the fact that everything dies... this is a gift, I guess we just need to be brave enough to accept it. 

“Life is fragile, like the dew hanging delicately on the grass, crystal drops that will be carried away on the first morning breeze.” Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche

Self care isn't selfish

We are in the giving profession, and if you are giving all the time and don't give back to yourself you run the risk of bleeding out... and when you bleed out you have nothing left to give. 

These are the paraphrased words I heard from Celia Lashlie several years ago at a Teachers Matter conference, they struck a chord then and they still do. 

Self care is an act of kindness, not only for you but for the learners in your care too. Our wellbeing isn't just about us, it allows us to continue giving the best that we can in the current circumstances, whatever they happen to be at the time. I wrote my Masters of Education research on the topic of teacher wellbeing and the key finding is as follows: 

Happy, healthy teachers tend to have happier, healthier classrooms where learners tend to do better academically, socially and emotionally. 

We are coming to the end of what is the most unusual term I have had so far in my career. Covid-19 and all that came with it has meant that we have had to cope with stressors that many of us have never been exposed to before; some of us have had to adapt quickly to changing circumstances whilst at the same time providing calm support for others in our care. For many of us this term has had it's fair share of difficulties. As we come to the end of the term it's not surprising that many of us are a little wrung out. When all of this is considered, the question I ask myself is how can we aim to be happy and healthy as the end of the term approaches? I don't have all the answers, not by a long shot, but I thought I would share a few ideas (in no particular order) around self care that might help. 

First and foremost, remember that self care is not selfish! 

• drink more water- have a water bottle in your classroom if you can. Hydration is so important, I know when I don't drink enough my thinking becomes fuzzy and I find it harder to cope with stress.
• take some deep breaths- when we get stressed our breathing can become more shallow which tells our brain that we are under threat and then it increases production of adrenaline and cortisol which makes us more stressed... it's a viscous cycle. Consciously pausing to take long slow deep breaths helps tell the brain we are safe which cuts into that stress cycle. 
• accept your feelings but try not to let them do the thinking for you- your feelings are yours and they are natural and normal. Our feelings give us information about what is happening in our world, how we choose to respond is where our power lies... pressing pause when you have a strong feeling to notice it and breathe will give you time for the intensity of the feeling to pass and then you can think more clearly. 
• let go of stuff if you can- working out what is important to do right now and letting go of the other stuff for now can be helpful, if you are able to make peace with not doing everything! It occurred to me not so long ago that teaching really is one long endless to do list and that helped me make peace with not getting everything done. 
• have a hug (if it's your thing)- when we have a hug or feel connection to someone it is said that we release oxytocin which is a hormone that reduces stress. 
• take time out to be grateful- each day list 10 things that you are grateful for, you can do this with a friend, with your students, in a diary or a journal. Practicising gratitude helps us tune in to the good we have in our lives... and the more we tune in to gratitude, the more we notice that we can be grateful for. 
• be playful- it is easy for us to take everything seriously but when we do it can become a heavy burden to bear, playfulness helps to lighten the load. 
• contribute positively to someone or something else- when we help someone else we get a bit of a good vibe, doing good feels good. It doesn't have to be something big either, the smallest acts of kindness can make a big difference. Last week a colleague of mine came out to do half of my morning tea duty so I could enjoy a special morning tea too... it was such a kind surprise, a small thing that made a big difference. 
• look after your sleep- if you can try to get to bed a little earlier... turning off screens before bed and taking time to get ready for sleep can help you get a better night's rest.  
• avoid skipping meals- we can't do what we do without energy and that comes from what we fuel ourselves with. I totally get the sugar or caffeine hit when the rubber hits the road, but try to have some fruit and nuts (and other healthy choices) during the day as well. You don't have to be perfect, just remember that teaching is a high energy job and you deserve to fuel yourself regularly as well as you can. Preparing meals in advance can help you eat regularly and avoid sugar overloading. 
• appreciate your learners- tell them how much you appreciate them, celebrate their successes (however small), this is an investment in the relationships that are supportive for you and your students wellbeing. 
• share good news with families- if you have time flicking a short message to families with some good news can be such a boost for them, you and the individual learners... everyone gets to feel good! 
• a little of what you love is a good thing- if you love chocolate then go for it, but try to savour it, really taste it and enjoy it. If you have a hobby you love is there a way you can indulge in your hobby, savouring and enjoying it for a moment or two?  
• have some alone time- sometimes you just need a few minutes in your own company, sometimes you need space to concentrate; think about how you can schedule a date with yourself. 

Perhaps your staff can come together to support each other as the term comes to a close: 

• have a shared lunch once a week 
• share a resource with others that might be helpful 
• tell the funny stories from what happens in your classroom, it might brighten someone's day 
• if you see something great in someone's classroom or with one of their students tell them, and tell others about the good you are seeing too
• ask for advice, most people are happy to help if they can 
• say thank you to others for what they have done or do for you
• remember that most people are doing the best they can with what they have right now... offer graciousness to others if you can 

Please note: If you are feeling totally overwhelmed and unwell the best thing you can do to care for yourself is to seek help, there are a range of services to support you. Please don't think you have to do this alone. 

This is just a collection of ideas from one teacher to her peers. I know there are so many other things we can do to care for ourselves. Please feel free to share your ideas, we are all in this together. 

Take care x 

Am I ready? A poem for returning to school

Am I ready? 

Someone asked me today if I was ready for school, the simple answer's no. 
Sure the tables are tidy, pens and books sorted out, a timetable done, even so...
There are so many things I simply don't know... 

What has happened for my little ones in the weeks gone by? 
Will they be outgoing and chatty or fearful and shy? 
There are many I've heard from but some I have not... 
Do they know that I care, or do they think I forgot... 
What questions do they carry? What worries do they hold? 
Will their parents be warm and approachable or distant and cold? 

And how will school look like, after this time that has passed? 
Will we continue the same old, or answer questions we have asked... 
About digital connection, home partnerships, and more, 
Like minimising inequity and starting to settle the score? 

The thing is no matter how much I prepare, how brilliant are my plans,
Tomorrow I will meet my learners with heart and mind in hand, 
And move with them, prepared to dance and discover on shifting sand. 

With hope, as always :) 

\

Teaching and learning with the heart and brain in mind from a distance

Teaching and learning with the heart and brain in mind from a distance has it's challenges, especially in the circumstances we find ourselves in currently with our global pandemic. I'm taking some time today to put down some thoughts that I hope offer some support as we navigate uncharted territory for many of us. 

Despite all the shifts and changes we are seeing around us one thing hasn't changed, I still believe the heart of teaching is all about relationships. Perhaps more than ever we need to be connected with our learners and their needs. We need to be aware. 

One way to help us connect with our learners is to consider the magic brain. This is the work of Glenn Capelli and is a great construct to help us understand the brain and consider behaviour and learning from a place of empathy. 


I could talk a lot about the magic brain (and you can read more about it in other posts, see here and here) but for now I'd like to focus on what we may see between the thinking room and the other rooms in the current climate. To learn and manage big emotions we need to be in our thinking room. When we are under stress we can drop to the lower rooms of our brain where it is harder to respond intelligently to what is happening around us, we can become highly emotional; flighty, feisty, or withdrawn. Families may find this situation stressful and find the pressure of 'school at home,' or as we are saying 'bubble school', difficult to deal with. One strategy I have taught all my students and their families is the Stop, Breathe, Think then Do strategy. It is simple and all based around opening the doors of the magic brain so we can think more clearly.

Getting our brain ready to think and learn is a useful place to start, not only for our children, it's great for us as well. I like to keep in mind that happy healthy teachers tend to have happier healthier learners who tend to do better socially, emotionally and academically. So making sure you are doing what you can to support your own health and wellbeing (and if it feels hard, just start small) is worth the effort... if you can't do it for yourself, remember what a great difference it can make for your learners. 

Teaching and learning will be different to what we are used to if we normally teach in face to face classrooms. The changes we are faced with could be daunting or exciting. They can be considered challenges to overcome or opportunities to stretch and grow. I have no doubt that there will be times that it gets hard, but it won't all or always be hard. I acknowledge that there may be times when we feel angry, stressed, overwhelmed; I hope there are also times when we feel energised, excited and positive. As you have no doubt heard before we cannot choose our circumstances but we can choose where we focus our energy. 

One of the greatest drains on energy I find is complaining, when I complain without actively engaging in solution finding the gloom seems to settle over me like a heavy grey blanket and it sucks the joy from any situation I find myself in. It's OK to have these low times, it is said we cannot have life's joys without it's sorrows, but we don't want them to cloud over everything for too long. When I find myself in the gloom I try to refocus my energy on something positive, I also work through Stop, Breathe, Think and Do. I offer myself some self care- choosing healthy options even if I'd rather eat a whole block of chocolate (by the way I'm not bagging chocolate... it can be great, especially if you really savour the pleasure of eating it). 


One way to exercise self care, and care for others, is to remember that the situation we are in right now is new for everyone in some way, shape or form. The word unprecedented is used often to describe this situation, and it is. Please be gentle and kind, with yourself and others. Pace yourself, breathe, ask for help, talk about your feelings, just take one step at a time. As we plan the tasks for our learners keep KISS in mind: Keep It Simple & Slow.  

Coming back to our magic brain, as we are planning for what we are doing for our children who are learning from home or in physically distanced environments at school we can look at what each room of the brain needs. 

Connection and belonging: 

This helps to create a sense of security for learners, that they are in a safe place with people who care about them. This helps to open the door of the red room. 

• What classroom traditions can you continue? Small things can give a sense of continuity and confidence to our learners. 
• How are you going to communicate with your learners? This might be a great opportunity to get comfortable on camera. 
• What personal touches can you add to help connect and engage with your learners? Perhaps you share a link to something one of them are passionate about, maybe you find areas of similarity and celebrate it. 
• Can you inject some fun or laughter into your connection? Try a silly outfit or tell some jokes. Share something funny from your life or experiences lately. Try to offer some lightness.

Structure: 

Structure helps tame insecurity that comes from uncertainty, and uncertainty tends to make us emotionally vulnerable. I tend to have a looser structure but we have little routines and traditions to be supportive- for our learners and their families as well as ourselves. This will help open our emotional glitter room door. 

• Can you offer some predictability into your work with your learners? Perhaps post a regular morning message each school day. Let your learners and families know when to expect posts or communications from you. You might use a consistent format for communications. 
• What is your feedback going to look like? Consider how often you will respond to the work your learners share, again a sense of predictability and relationship is part of this. 
• How will you communicate with and support your learner's families over this time? You might consider a regular schedule for messages. It may be worth finding what format works best for the families you are working with, some may be limited with access to devices etc, some may need more communication from you and others less. 

Challenge: 

The brain loves challenge, and if we are in our big blue thinking room we need it, it loves to stretch and so when we are planning consider how we can give learning opportunities that offer that. 

• How will you engage thinking in the learning tasks you offer? Think about asking big, hairy questions. Choose topics that you think will appeal to your learners. By all means offer a variety of tasks so that your learners and their families can choose low stress options but think about how you can engage thinking. 
• Can you provide learning tasks that engage thinking for everyone? Individualised tasks might be a tall order especially when teaching from a distance so perhaps we are better to set open-ended tasks. Think about the low-floor/high-ceiling approach that Jo Boaler advocates. 

Right now, for most of us, we are in a unique situation. This is new. My hope is that through this time we might discover new skills, appreciate ourselves better, and build stronger relationships with some of our learners and their families. 

Take care of yourselves and know that the work you are doing is really appreciated by so many. 

Ten Cs for teachers to stay well while staying at home for work :) Part 3

And to finish this blog series of 10 Cs to stay well while staying at home for work. The focus this time is on our mindset. 

Challenge:

At the moment we have been presented with an opportunity for us to learn new things and to do things differently, we may not have chosen the circumstances but we can choose to embrace the opportunity to stretch our brains. Our brain does love to be challenged- this will come from taking risks and making mistakes while we learn, just like we ask our learners to do in our classrooms every day!

We might have the challenge of creating a work space in our homes, as a wee tip I am fond of using my ironing board at times as a substitute desk 😊 (it doesn’t get used for much else very often to be honest!) We might have the challenge of how we work with our own children needing us as well, I’ve been getting my boy to join in on the challenges I set my class and occasionally film him doing things to share with the class, he also sometimes joins in on my songs or listens to me read the novel I am for my class. We have the challenge of what to do for our classes, how much work to set and how to meet all the diverse needs in varying circumstances. My suggestion is to start off by keeping it simple and going slow, we are all new to this.

Contribute: 

We all offer value and I encourage you to share your gems with others, and there are so many ways you can! You don’t have to learn all the new things, share the load by sharing the wisdom with your colleagues. Even when we work from home we have the capacity to collaborate, there are tools we can use to help us do this more easily and we might even come up with ways to work together effectively that we can use after all this is over!

Also consider the unique skills and talents that you have and how you can use these to connect and engage with your learners- you might record yourself singing favourite songs to share with your class, you might write poems or stories for your class about things that you know will appeal to them, you might create art or do cartoons, you might be great at sewing or crafts and you can share examples of what you are making… the only limit is your imagination.

Change:

Let’s be honest teaching shifts and changes all the time so teachers are not strangers to change! Change by its very nature can cause uncertainty and be distressing. It can also lead to excitement, energy, and growth.

We are in a privileged position to support our learners to navigate this very different learning environment by being champions of change. We can show them how to embrace change, how to be calm and connected when faced with uncertainty.

Working from home is a change for many of us, it has a range of benefits as well as challenges, as with any changing circumstance.  What are you going to focus on?  

Choice: 

In every moment we have the power to choose, I know it is a bit of a cliché but I’ll say it here again because it is a useful mindset to adopt, we cannot choose our circumstances but we can choose our attitudes.

We can choose to see all the problems we are faced with in the coming weeks; we might be feeling overwhelmed or stressed, which are perfectly normal emotions especially now, but if we feed this negative energy then all that we do will be coloured by this negativity, instead of rose tinted glasses we'll be wearing grey, gloomy lenses instead. We can choose to see the opportunities that come from setbacks; the opportunities to create something new, the opportunities to learn new things, the opportunities to give positive energy at a time when many people may be struggling, the opportunity to continue doing our important work.

A shift in perspective doesn’t mean denying our feelings, it means giving ourselves time to feel our feelings and then making choice about how long we are going to give any particular feeling the floor. If watching news or social media feeds fuels our anxiety then choose to switch off. If you are feeling uncertain (and who isn’t at the moment) choose to focus on what you can control, even just one little thing. 

Working from home can be seen as a burden or a privilege. We haven't chosen it but we can choose to make the best of the circumstances. 

1. Focus on creating a healthy internal environment for your work- create calm, act with caution around negative habits, and make sure you make time to chill out. 
2. Focus on your work- remember your can-do-ness (you've got this!), let yourself get creative and connect with others regularly. 
3. Focus on your mindset- face challenges with a sense of optimism, contribute and collaborate, be a champion of change and always remember the power of your choice. 

Take care out there everyone. 

Ten C’s for Teachers to stay well while staying at home for work 😊 Part 2

Continuing with our 10 C’s... 

Can-do-ness

This is about self-belief and self-efficacy; you are a competent teacher and this situation doesn’t change that. Teaching is likely going to be quite different, and there will certainly be challenges, but the heart of what you do hasn’t changed… you are still building and maintaining relationships.

Remember, you’ve got this!  

It helps to spend some time thinking about what your strengths are and how you can use those strengths in different ways. For the areas that you are uncomfortable with, this is a time to ask for help, there are a number of people out there ready and willing to help us.

Create

There is a myth out there that only some people are ‘creative’, and the rest of us just aren’t. Creativity isn’t just about being able to make masterpieces, it is something that is an innately human endeavour. We are creative when we play with ideas, when we whip up a meal, when we put together an outfit, when we plant a garden, when we make art, when we tell stories, when we plan a lesson… you get the idea. Even a small amount of creativity where we take risks and embrace our mistakes can be great for our brain and sense of self.

We have been given an opportunity to have time to really get creative in our work and play which could be a little bit exciting. It doesn’t have to be straight away, you might not be ready yet, but the opportunity is there. Perhaps start small and work your way up.  

Connect

This is huge. Connection with others is a physiological need; we can’t survive, let alone thrive, without other people from the time we are born. Consider how you are connecting with colleagues, students, your friends and family. As many are saying at the moment we may be physically isolated but we don’t have to be socially isolated.

Relationships are key for us in teaching, always have been, always will be.  How we relate to our learners is important- our communication channels might be different now but the need to form and maintain connection remains the same. One of the differences is that our communications may be more open, with more engagement with the family of our students and more personal as we are visiting each other’s homes (albeit virtually). This could be hugely positive in creating stronger links between families, learners and their teachers. 

This is a big question for us to consider and keep in mind as we plan ahead. What do we really want for the learners in our care? 

Ten C’s for Teachers to stay well while staying at home for work: Part 1

A while back I was what they called a tele-worker- I worked from home for part of the time and travelled for the rest. It was a great lifestyle and I really enjoyed working from home. Fast forward a few years and I have studied and learned a bit about teacher wellbeing as well as returning to full time classroom teaching. 
Now we are faced with a time of uncertainty where many of us will be working from home for a portion of time, how long we aren't really sure yet. I know that for some of us this will be new and that can be unsettling. So I have gathered some thoughts from my learning over the years here, I hope it is helpful.

Calm:

Calm really is a superpower especially when working from home. There will be frustrations at times and the capacity for overwhelm is huge too. I am noticing at the moment there is so much information and so many companies sharing their products and services that it’s easy to become overwhelmed by it all.

Take a breath and, if you can, focus on one thing at a time. Ask yourself “what is the most important thing for me to do right now?”. The answer may simply to focus on your breathing for a while and that’s OK… big, juicy, deep breaths are great for your body and mind.

Caution:

Here are three red lights I found for when you are in the work zone at home:

• ·       Sitting too much- it is easy, especially when using devices for communication, to sit for too long which isn’t great for us in the long term. One way to make sure you don’t sit too long is to set an alarm to get up and move every 20-30 minutes.
• ·       Bored eating- when you have a kitchen near your workspace, and I know some of us might even be working in our kitchens, it is easy to reach for a chocolate biscuit because we are bored. There’s nothing wrong with the odd chocolate biscuit but high energy/low nutrient foods are not an ideal regular food. Try to have a little snack bowl of fruit and nuts readily available and remember to drink water regularly.
• ·       Distractions can be everywhere… especially if you are looking for them!- The flexibility of working from home is fantastic, you can make more choices about when and where you do the work, I love that. But it is easy to be distracted by TV, other people, housework, other projects and so much more. Remember that the brain cannot focus on two things at the same time, so if we are multitasking we are actually rapidly switching focus which can be taxing on our energy. You can get through more, faster if you focus on one thing at a time.

Chill out:

One of the other pitfalls from working from home is that you can be working all the time, it can be hard to switch off but switching off is really important. It might be that you only do work in one particular spot in your house so that when you are away from there you are not working. Or you could log out of work apps or switch off devices at a certain time. Or maybe you schedule your day so there is specific work time and specific down time. Whatever works for you, but please make sure you switch off, it’ll make you more productive and a happier human being 😊

Also, as educators we are in a giving profession and for many of us giving is easy. In order to be able to keep giving however we need to carve out a little time for ourselves. It might be that we create a calm soothing space to chill out. It might be that we do some reading, a hobby, something physical, meditation… you get the picture. This is not selfish, this is refuelling so you can keep doing what you do best!

I'll follow up with some more around our work life at home. 

Finding your Tribe... a giftEDnz blog challenge post

Today is Day 7 of the giftEDnz October blogging challenge and the theme for today is finding your tribe. The inspiration was this beautiful post https://spark.adobe.com/page/ABPCjywrC2gRO/.

For me, finding your tribe is all about belonging and as a teacher it is my job (and privilege) to create an environment that engenders this. So I thought I would share some of the ways we work in Room 5 to build a learning community that embraces belonging.

A couple of years ago I was at a Teachers Matter conference (please check here for information about the Jan 2019 conference) and I heard Adrian Rennie speaking about his classroom practice, I got a lot from his work including the use of a class chant. I created the chant below a couple of years ago for the class and it is handed down from one class to the next now... it is part of a Room 5 tradition. This poem/chant covers our expectations, or qualities of Room 5 learners (including myself), rather than use rules.

We spend time unpacking what each of the expectations/qualities look like/sound like/feel like in action as a class when we start the new year. Each of us also add a feather to our class kakahu (cloak)- this is growing each year, so we are part of something bigger than just ourselves and our class this year, it is becoming a rather beautiful keepsake. 

This year we created inspiration boards that shared a little about our aspirations and loves. These were reduced on the copier and made into a framed entrance so people would know a little about us as they entered our classroom. The children took the originals home so they could remember these things at home too. This has been a much loved area of our classroom and attracts interest from all visitors. As part of this wall are QR codes with us sharing our pepeha- another way for us to get to know each other. 

We spend a lot of time exploring our brain, at the start of the year- how we learn, think, cope with big emotions. We have a calm down zone in our classroom. We have responsibility buddies (who change regularly) to help us with our learning tasks in the classroom. We explore strategies that help us to become better learners including what we can do to support the learning of others by finding out their learning preferences, and understanding a bit of how the brain works. This work is ongoing and becomes part of our learning language in the classroom. 

In the classroom I prefer to use inclusive language... we/us instead of I/me, our not mine or yours. This is deliberate. It helps to increase a sense of ownership and belonging. But this is only the tip of the iceberg... language is so powerful! 

This year I was lucky to have the opportunity to spend a day learning from Teacher Tom (http://teachertomsblog.blogspot.com/) who spoke at length about democratic processes in the classroom. I have always thought I was doing OK with that but I realised I have a long way to go to truly deliver my vision of a democratic classroom.  He recommended exploring the work of Tom Drummond (https://tomdrummond.com/leading-and-caring-for-children/) and it is brilliant. There is so much to learn. The use of democratic processes truly engages students as citizens in a learning community... we all have a contribution to make and an expectation to work in ways that enhance our community of learning. This takes time, commitment and effort but it is well worth it I believe. 

There is a lot of choice in our classroom, that comes with its challenges of course but we are getting there. With the range of choice available there is scope for tamariki to work with a variety of others, including others from different classrooms at times. The combinations that I see pairing or grouping up sometimes surprises me which is a good thing, without being contrived these groups either succeed or fail on their own merits and the learning that comes from this I think is important for developing life skills. They also provide real opportunities for us to explore problems (and solutions) that happen when working and living and dealing with people... when being part of a group or tribe. 

At the end of each term we conduct a class audit, exploring what has worked and what hasn't, along with what we could improve or change to make our class even better. In the last term we used a PMI framework (plus, minus, interesting), the dialogue that went on as we explored this over a couple of days was great, and it was neat to see the extent of engagement and improvement in deep thinking about the topic from earlier in the year. We are stretching and growing and it is a privilege to be part of the learning community we are developing. 

This is Einstein the elephant... our class mascot, and one of the greatest learners in the world!
Thanks for Adrian Rennie for this idea too! 

Our classroom is full of quirky folk (me included), learning to embrace what makes us unique- our differences- our own brand of weirdness, and respect and enjoy the uniqueness of others is part of what we aim to achieve in our learning community. Again, we have some way to go but it is, as always, a mission worthy of pursuing. 

Do you think you are better than everyone else- a reflection

A couple of years ago I wrote a post entitled 'Do you think you are better than everyone else' where I recounted a story from my childhood that does haunt me even now (over 30 years later)... it was a tiny moment really but the words cut deep and created a loop that pops up from time to time. At the moment I am participating (a little!) in a blog challenge with giftEDnz and I am also in the midst of school holidays so a LOT of personal reflection is going on. I have also started reading Brene Brown's book 'Rising Strong' as resilience is a topic I am interested in and I love her work, it has got me thinking about vulnerability again and facing my own demons. I am not gifted but I think that the moment I had as a child could be one some of our gifted and talented tamariki experience, the words (and the venom they are delivered with) might be different but the damage done could be similar.

This is the moment (click on the link above for more): 

'I was one of those kids that loved learning, heck I still do, and I was always looking to stretch myself, again I still do. One day when I must've been about 11 years old, I had completed some work earlier than my classmates, I had checked it and then waited in line to ask my teacher if I could please have some more work. The response from my teacher was less than supportive, in fact the response was a loud (enough to silence the rest of my classmates) "so you think you are better than everyone else?" I was horrified. That was not what I meant at all, I just wanted some more work to keep myself busy and tried to explain that in a quiet voice but to no avail. I didn't get any more work, all I got was humiliated and shamed. '

I never thought of myself as a particularly precocious child, but maybe I was, who knows? What I do know is that this experience made me nervous to stand up, to speak up, to be vulnerable. I vividly remember sitting at my desk having completed my work and looking around the classroom seeing everyone else still working away (or goofing off because we were a class of real human beings with different needs, skills and interests... however they were doing so in an unobtrusive manner to avoid being caught), I weighed up the option of staying there quietly and doing nothing but it was going to be a long time which would be really boring and I thought perhaps my teacher would be proud of me showing an interest and desire to do more (people pleasing is something I mastered early on... a work in progress too) so I took a deep breath and walked to his desk. I'll never forget the look of disdain as he spoke to me... or perhaps disdain is what I perceived rather than what was really there, never-the-less the look, the words, the silence... it stung. 

Fast forward now to last week, and I am presenting a workshop at a conference. As always there was the flutter... what right do I have being here talking to people about stuff? What makes me think I am good enough to do this? Now, I have a process to tamper that down and walk into the vulnerability, face the fear and do it anyway kind of approach. The workshop went well, I think, and at the end one of the teachers there asked if she could come and observe in my classroom... instant anxiety flare... and I fumbled my way through saying yes of course but please know it is a work in progress and I am on  a journey and certainly haven't got it all sorted etc etc etc. I created the excuses immediately because perhaps one of my biggest fears is being exposed as the fraud I am sure I am. After all, what actually makes me think that I have anything to offer? Cue the refrain: What makes me think I am better than anyone else? 

Now I know that this is mind talk and that I have the skills to manage that but the seeds planted in our early years can grow strong roots. In those times when our vulnerability is exposed that is perhaps when those seeds that have grown over the years blossom in their healing or hurting way depending on what seeds are planted and then nurtured. 

And so, my challenge for myself is to be present and aware of the seeds I am planting and those I am nurturing in the minds and hearts of the young people I am privileged to work with. To prune what I can of the harmful ones and provide light, warmth and nutrients to the ones that will help my tamariki flourish in all the ways they can. 

Every child deserves a champion

I have been particularly lax with my blogging this year (and possibly last year too) so I have decided to take on the giftEDnz October blogging challenge to get me back on track and consolidating some thoughts... who knows there could be some gems that arise in it all as well! 

Today's topic: The late Rita Pierson said that “Every child needs a champion.”  How can

   we be champions for our gifted and talented students in particular?

For me a champion is the person that is prepared to stand tall for others when they haven't the resources at the time to do it for themselves.

If we are to be a champion for our tamariki, particularly our gifted and talented tamariki, then we have to be prepared to stand tall for them especially when they are marginalised or lack the resources to do it for themselves.

In order to do this we need to know our tamariki- know what switches them on and off, know their social and support networks, we need to observe (with our hearts and our minds) to read what is happening for them and how they engage with the world around them (at least in our settings), we need to listen to them (really listen!)... and we need to ensure we identify those things about them that we like, dare I say, love. I always remember the quote that says that some of the children that need love the most will ask for it in the most unlovable ways... we need to keep in mind that all behaviour is communication and so listen to the cues and try to see the human being behind the behaviour if what is presented to us is challenging.

We also need to get real and get informed. Get real about the challenges you are presented with, what you don't know so then you can find out. Read, ask questions, attend courses, talk to as many people as you can to get the information, and resources, you need to better meet the needs of the tamariki in your care.

And then we can be the champions these tamariki deserve.

We can get alongside whanau and support them.

We can argue for funding and resources.

We can create spaces and opportunities for their voices to be heard.

We can lobby different decision makers to consider our gifted and talented students in their decisions.

Every child deserves a champion. We are those champions.

Learning from the front of the room- a reflection from IMPACT, the PSA Convention 2018

I am a full time teacher and last weekend I attended the Professional Speakers Association Convention in Brisbane, Australia. I went as I was invited by my friend (thanks Karen!) and was offered the opportunity to present a small piece in a workshop during the weekend (thanks Glenn!).

As I was heading into the convention I was feeling like a fish in the desert (that's how far out of the water I was feeling), I was thinking "I am a teacher at a professional speakers convention... what on earth am I doing here???" However to say that the weekend was inspirational feels like an understatement really. It was huge and I am still trying to get my head around it all to be honest but for now I hope to convey some of what I learned as a teacher in this post.

We started with a session for newbies to the convention, what a relief to be around others who were feeling a bit out of their comfort zone. As it turned out there were people from all walks of life and the more people I spoke to over the weekend the more I realised just how diverse the attendees were... we all have a journey and what we bring right now is the sum of our experience to date. Regardless of background there was a sense of camaraderie and genuine interest in each other, even a newbie like me. It became clear to me that as teachers we stand to learn so much by stepping out of education and listening to people in different industries, over the weekend I learned from hair dressers, teachers, performers, hotel managers, scientists, engineers, lawyers, health experts, trainers, sportspeople to name a few. And it wasn't only those on the stage, it was also talking to the people standing around the kiwi ice cream freezer at the opening supper, the cleaner in the bathrooms where I was having a last run through of my presentation, the folk on the dance floor at the formal dinner, people who were sitting around the tables at various sessions and workshops, as well as the fabulous shop attendant at a nature's discovery type store where I grabbed a couple of items for school (as you do!). Everyone has a story to tell, everyone has wisdom... we just have to listen.

And so here are a lot of snapshot ideas that I picked up over the weekend that I think are relevant to us in the classroom (and much of it in life really)... I may end up elaborating more at some stage but for now I will run with sound bytes as there is just so much information that I am still digesting.

My IMPACT PSA Convention sound bytes for teachers (and other people too):

• Fall in love with language 
• Learn new languages (there are 6000 languages in the world and 90% are endangered) 
• We were welcomed by Robert Henderson, a Wiradjuri elder. Where we come from is important and honouring the people of a place is important. Using the language of a people and a place is powerful. 
• The Eyes of Wonder=The Look of Learning 
• Be more awesome 
• Use sign language- use our bodies to conduct our classroom like a conductor brings the egos of an orchestra together to create beautiful harmonious music 
• Be BRAVE 
• When creating a presentation be clear on what you want the people you are working with to feel, to act on after and to remember  
• Consider what is your most disabling thought and then identify what the most empowering statement is about yourself (I am now working on the second bit... it's a challenge) 
• Strive less, allow more 
• Be your best self 
• Fear is a reaction- Courage is a choice 
• Look for opportunities rather than getting hung up on difficulties 
• Design laughter into your presentations... think about how you connect and motivate and be brave
• Take the stage you've got and start from there 
• How we feel about ourselves is what we project of ourselves to the world 
• It's your life- would you like to take responsibility for that? 
• Trust yourself, don't be afraid to be you- be real
• Are you managing classes or leading learning? Managing= work, leading=learning. 
• Be interested in just about anything 
• Beautiful questions are powerful 
• There are more choices in front of you than you think 
• Change the picture, change the results 
• What are your beliefs? These are the thoughts we hold to be true and they drive our behaviour 
• Write and read obsessively around those things that you are inspired by 
• Gratitude helps to balance out 'constructive discontent', the feeling that there's always more to do 
• Ask yourself "does this excite me?" 
• Love is a commitment- it isn't a feeling 
• Rather than working from a beat myself up mode when it doesn't work, go into a how can I build it better mode 
• Pursue everything that tickles your fancy 
• What makes you beautiful? What makes what you do beautiful? Find the beauty in yourself... be YOU! 
• Make a decision about how you show up in the world. 
• How often do we overlook the simple to make complex stuff? 
• What is the feedback you are getting from your audience (or class)? 
• Focus on what you love... don't complain, celebrate the opportunity instead 
• Less is more! Give people time to explore, feel and contemplate. Less content, more elaboration. 
• Start to stop- let go- simplify 
• Influence and manipulation are the same in process but intent and outcome are different... be an influencer! 
• With structure (process) I can be flexible with my focus 
• The brain learns by suggestion... prime and nudge 
• Where there's judgement let there be empathy 
• Use language carefully- create modifiers e.g. 'what you might do...?' or ' I invite you to...' Invite instead of commanding. 
• Use we/us instead of I/me 
• Remember it is the group's group not your group- watch them and respect what they are telling you about how far you can push someone in the group 
• How do you turn up? Ask 'what can I do for this group of people?', have a sense of humanity, visualise energy, know that you are here to serve. 
• Use the light of day test- would you make this decision if it were to be held up for all the world to see? 
• Give ourselves permission to dare to be different 
• Do the inner work first- find your inner super hero
• Consider how you manage your energy to work with others as your best 
• Come burning into the present moment- have a strong centre, open heart and clear mind 
• Use props to enhance your message 
• Throw energy to the back of the group and everyone will sense it 
• Story is powerful- be creative in telling, use words powerfully 
• Don't be afraid to be vulnerable 
• Your brand is your identity and your message- telling the world what you do and how you do it... to get people on board sympathise with their pain (challenges) and sell the problem, pain and solution you offer 
• Ways to engage... simplicity, close ups, metaphors and surprise 
• Questions are more important than answers, visuals are more important than verbal 
• Catchphrase "I am glad you asked" 
• Perfectionism will keep you in the slow lane
• Make sure your head is where your feet are 
• Reflection on learning: what is loud (epic) for you? what is soft (intimate) for you?  

Goodness that is a long list! As you can see from these snapshots it really was an epic weekend. I left feeling like I was floating on air... so inspired, profoundly moved and challenged to do more of what I love, and to do what I do better. IT IS TIME... 

If there is anything here that resonated for you I would love to know... sharing is caring :) As I work through this list myself I may even write more about some of these concepts and ideas to share my learning journey with you. 

Pruning to let the light in- an analogy

Now I am no great gardener, but as I was pruning back my grapes earlier this afternoon (I can now feel some of you are nodding ‘yes, you are no great gardener, way too late!’) I was struck with a small epiphany that I needed to put into words. And now I am sharing this with you… but first I need to give a little more context…

You see I didn’t just wantonly run out to the glasshouse with my clippers and start hacking willy-nilly, not at all. I know enough to check (and already had an inkling that the best time to give the vine a good hacking was in the middle of winter dormancy) so I did what I often do in these circumstances, search the net until I find someone else who has done things not quite at the right time and got away with it. Invariably, I always find some obscure chatroom that provides me with the green light, and often a little sage advice to go with it. Today, I found my green light (obviously, although I was fairly committed to the course of action anyway) and also a possible answer to a problem that had vexed me with my grapes last season.

Last season I had a bumper crop of grapes on the vine, there were bunches upon bunches upon bunches, a sea of little greenish-purple orbs dripping along the roof of the glasshouse and I eagerly awaited the time they would reach full, juicy, delicious ripeness. 

Oh, the anticipation. 

Oh, the disappointment. 

Yes, some ripened and were delicious as anticipated but most just didn’t get there. I thought it was the dodgy weather we’d had, and I know I hadn’t been very attentive to the needs of my garden as I was toiling in the fertile soil of masters research writing instead. But in my search for a green light to prune back I happened upon a little statement that suggested if the vine was overladen with bunches that selective pruning of some bunches could help as it allowed the light to reach the others so they would ripen better. As I said earlier, and some of you will possibly be nodding vigorously in agreement now, I am not a great gardener and I don’t know if this is true or not but it sounded feasible and herein lies the reason why I am writing.

As I was hacking away, and trying to, not altogether successfully, avoid the cobwebs and dead leaves falling into my hair or worse still down my top, it occurred to me that letting the light in to help things reach their juicy, delicious, full potential is what I have started to appreciate in my classroom teaching. We are advised to accelerate our learners, to choose target students and provide specific interventions to ensure they meet a required standard. (I do wonder at the turn of phrase ‘target students’- is that like putting some kid in a firing line and then shooting additional resources and interventions at them until they reach some arbitrary standard so we can move them along and bring in another target for our attention? I digress.) Please know, I am committed to all my learners achieving their potential and reaching for greatness in their own way, I want the best for my kids. But I wonder if sometimes we crowd them so they struggle to reach the light and therefore miss the opportunity to fully reach their potential.

Now I am not suggesting we prune out learners, heavens no! Although a class size and adequate support to be able to engage meaningfully with the learners in our care would seem sensible to me. I do think however we need to prune back some of what is happening in classrooms to allow our learners to ripen and bloom when the time is right for them and our job as teachers is to provide the conditions to do so. Since returning to classroom teaching three years ago, I have noticed that cutting back some of what I was doing is leading to positive outcomes for my learners. I used to try to see all my reading and maths groups at least every second day and have set activities for them to follow up independently from the learning session we had had. I also tried to make sure I conferenced with every child for writing at least once a week. I ensured my special needs and target students were getting time with teacher aides for revision/over learning whilst I saw them more often for guided sessions on top of all this. Poor wee guys were probably exhausted with all this extra support! What I was doing in actual fact was setting myself and my learners up for failure. My group sessions were often rushed if they happened at all as more often than not I couldn’t actually see everyone I had planned to and so I was rewriting planning or then planning day by day to cater for my lack of ability to push everyone through. If I did see everyone as initially planned then I didn’t engage in thoughtful or meaningful conversations because I was distracted by time and also monitoring what others were doing around the classroom in the various ‘meaningful’ follow up activities I had assigned for them. Now it wasn’t a complete disaster and there was progress made but it was stressful and I posit that much of the stress was unnecessary.

As with my gardening, I am no expert teacher but I am a committed learner and this is what I have learned. I have shifted my focus, I now do less but I feel I do it better. I see some groups more often and some groups less often depending on what they need and what we are doing. Some groups of learners are undertaking set assignments within our classroom programme where it makes sense. My students have a lot of choice about how they respond to a text or a maths lesson, sometimes there will be little follow up, other times a lot may happen. Recently I had two learners who made a frozen confectionary after they created a recipe, were given the ingredients and told that the most important thing about baking is cleaning up then left to it… this came in response to a novel we had been reading. I spend time talking with, and most importantly listening to and observing my learners and I feel like I know them better. I see my writers at varying times, sometimes with self selected teacher groupings after a specific inspiration for writing but other times because they are at a stage they want feedback from the teacher or when I am roving around the classroom between group sessions. I trust my learners to get on with what they need to and we are building a culture where this is creating success. Yes, just in case you were wondering, I still have interventions for my target students (I don’t make them wear a shirt with a bullseye on it or anything though and they don’t get paranoid that I am going to leap out and teach at them when they are look like they might be relaxing).

The systems in my classroom are far from perfect and I feel like I have a long way to go but I can appreciate that what I am aiming for is creating space so that the light can come in and great, juicy, delicious, flourishing can occur naturally. We don't have standardised brains, we don't learn in standardised ways (oh, how easy, and how dreadfully dull teaching would be if this were true) so teaching our students with an expectation that they will achieve, or flourish, in a standardised time frame seems somewhat counter-intuitive really. By letting the light in, and noticing when I am not, I feel like I am giving my learners a better deal than I was and am seeing the growth in confidence, self management and personal drive to learn. It's a start and it all came from pruning back a little, even if I was a little late!